We are proud to announce the premiere of We Do Hope, a six-episode podcast series hosted by Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, the founder and director of the Witness to Witness (W2W) Program and Pamela Secada, Senior Program Manager for Witness to Witness. We Do Hope explores what it means to be a witness when it comes to trauma, hardships, and pain. The podcast will discuss chronic sorrow, moral injury, microaggressions, and many of the other struggles experienced by clinicians working stressful jobs. It will also cover topics such as self-compassion and reasonable hope.

“W2W is pleased to offer a six-episode series podcast covering topics of importance to clinicians -- frankly most adults -- presented in an engaging conversational format among three Migrant Clinicians Network staff,” Dr. Weingarten said. “The podcasts are frank, timely, and even, at times, amusing. We name issues impacting us all now and propose doable solutions. We are all about reasonable hope, and by sharing these podcasts, we are doing hope with you, our listeners.”

Clinicians are always in need of informed support from those who understand the struggles of the health care industry and the difficulties they see every day. The work of Witness to Witness focuses on building resilience among clinicians and offers training, services, and consultations to “promote resilience individually and organizationally for people working with historically marginalized communities, allowing them to flourish despite the demands of the work.” This work has only become more demanding during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the podcast will focus on common struggles among clinicians based on what the Witness to Witness Program has learned caring for them.

Much of the podcast will contain information about these challenges and may help clinicians better understand their suffering as a result of their stressful jobs. By focusing primarily on those who care for others, Witness to Witness cares for them and helps them understand their own struggles as witnesses to the suffering of patients.

The first episode is out now and features Dr. Weingarten with Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes. Together, they discuss what it means to be a witness. “Clinicians are over-exposed to truly difficult situations that they are expected to handle but they are also witnesses to them," according to Dr. Weingarten. Clinicians on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic have been regular witnesses to trauma, death, and hardships at a scale that most have never encountered. Long work hours and intense workloads add to the pressure. Most are unprepared to process this kind of trauma, which can affect clinicians for the rest of their lives.

The podcast will come out in six episodes over the course of the next four weeks. Find us on Spotify here and make sure to follow our show for updates when new episodes are released.

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